Heruka Vajrasattva Tsog

This Heruka Vajrasattva Tsog practice, written by Lama Thubten Yeshe, consists of a series of requesting verses combined with the recitation of the hundred-syllable mantra of Vajrasattva. All are welcome to participate. The yoga method of Heruka Vajrasattva has the power to purify all negative energy, which is the main thing preventing us from actualizing the path to enlightenment. This impure energy creates both physical and mental hindrances, and also leaves certain imprints. When you feel that you cannot meditate—there are too many interruptions, you cannot do anything, you cannot solve your problems—remember that there is something else you can do to remove obstacles to your progress: purification. Combining insight meditation with a powerful purification practice, such as the yoga method of Heruka Vajrasattva, helps ensure that you will gain the realizations you seek without frustration.

This Heruka Vajrasattva practice includes tsog: an offering ceremony that represents assembling all of the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in a visualization of a sacred dance. Tsog means “gathering” or “assembly,” and in this practice, it is often rendered as “pure offering.” However, the actual tsog is one’s meditation on transcendental, blissful wisdom. The entire purpose of offering tsog is to generate the experience of this blissful wisdom within oneself and to overcome the ordinary appearance and conception of sensory objects. Because the offering of tsog is a profound method for transcending mundane thought, the entire practice assists us in going beyond our ordinary experience of subject and object.

While Heruka Vajrasattva is the highest yoga tantra aspect of Vajrasattva, and those practicing highest yoga tantra normally have a commitment to do a tsog practice twice each month (on the 10th and 25th of the lunar calendar), anyone without an initiation can participate in this particular practice. For those without initiation, you can visualize Heruka Vajrasattva above the crown of your head or in the space front of you. Here is more information about the benefits of the practice.

COVID-19 Policy

To review the policy please click here. For questions, please email registration@shantidevanyc.org.

Important Note

This puja may at times be substituted at the last minute by Lama Tsongkhapa Guru Yoga, or Guru Puja (Lama Chöpa). Other than the session on Tue May 30 that can be attended in-person, the practice is typically an online-only event.

This is an in-person and online event. Please review our latest Covid-19 policy if you are attending in person. For online, the events will be administered using Zoom*.

After registering, the system automatically sends a confirmation and/or a receipt email that contains the Zoom meeting link and/or other instructions. If you don’t immediately receive the system email(s) or you have any other questions, please contact us at registration@shantidevanyc.org.

*Zoom is an interactive video-conferencing tool that allows participants to see one another and ask questions. You will need a computer, a tablet or a smartphone with the Zoom application to attend. If you are using Zoom for the first time, please login earlier to allow any necessary installations on your device.

Sadhana During Practice

Sadhana and center prayers are usually screen-shared or projected during practice. If the session allows for in-person attendance, you are encouraged to download them onto your device, or to bring a printed copy if preferred.

Registration / Schedule

Open donation: none, $5, $10, $21, $35, $50, $108

Open donation. All are welcome.

Your generosity makes it possible for us to share the Dharma and continue working together for the benefit of all sentient beings.

Time zone: US Eastern Daylight Time (GMT/UTC-4)

If the registration above didn’t work for you, please try this alternative page, or email registration@shantidevanyc.org for assistance. 

Prayer Requests

If you would like to request a dedication for yourself or someone else who might benefit from this practice, please email prayers@shantidevanyc.org and provide basic information including the person’s name, city of residence, dedication message, etc. Please provide a 24-hour notice for prayer requests.  

Puja Sponsorship

You are welcome to sponsor all or part of the puja. Full sponsorship is $108. Great merit is created by your contribution of any amount. Sponsorship is processed through registering above, even if you will not be attending the puja. If you would like to schedule and sponsor an individual puja, please write to jennifer@shantidevanyc.org. We are grateful for your generosity!

“If someone offers a small flower or rice to a Buddha statue, a stupa or scripture then the benefit extends from then up to Enlightenment. Amazing, amazing. It is said in the sutra Piled Flowers, on top of that benefit, you achieve ultimate happiness – liberation from the causes of delusion and karma and on top of that full Enlightenment – all the realizations and omniscient mind.” —Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Dana for the Teacher

Shantideva Center makes offerings to our teachers using the funds collected through registration. You can give additional support to the teacher and create a stronger karmic connection by offering dana. Please make sure to select the teacher’s name in the dropdown menu. Dana offered is passed entirely to the teacher, but please note that it is not tax-deductible.

About the Teacher

Venerable Robina Courtin has worked full-time for Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s organization, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, since her ordination in the late 1970s. Over the years she has served as editorial director of Wisdom Publications, editor of Mandala Magazine, executive director of Liberation Prison Project, and as a touring teacher of Buddhism. Her life and work with prisoners have been featured in the documentary films Chasing Buddha and Key to Freedom. Venerable Robina is known for her straightforward and energetic teaching style, helping people discover the potential of their own minds with clear explanations about Tibetan Buddhism and how to apply it to their lives.

Visit her website at https://www.robinacourtin.com.